I have recently started playing WoW and have really been enjoying it, effectively putting most of the time spend in the house in the land of Azeroth. I today learned that by typing in /played, you are shown the total amount of time you spent playing the game. Peaking my interested, I typed it in and got a time of 3 days, 12 hours, 42 minutes, and 32 seconds. Having only been playing the game effectively for about 2 weeks, this seemed rather high to me. Unlike some people's reaction to this information, this didn't feel like a total waste of time and actually gave me a certain sense of accomplishment. I am a gamer, I have been since I was young (not that I am old by any means). It is the number one hobby/obsession for me, at least when I am stuck at the house. I am sure that if you took the total amount of time I played videogames in my 19 short years on this Earth, it would possibly hit the 5-digit territory ( I spend over 1,000 hours in Morrowind alone, I believe). So here is my question. Do you view the time you spend playing videogames as a worthwhile investment into something you love doing? Or is it simply a waste of time that you use to replace the lack of nothing else to do?

The way I see it, if you enjoyed those hours/days of gaming it was worth it.

I see playing games as an entertainment vector. Nothing more, nothing less. I acknowledge that there probably are other things I could be doing at the time that would be a more productive way to spend my time, but unwinding and having some fun is important too. It definitely isn't a waste of time, but it certainly is no worthwhile investment. It's fun. Fun is meant to be fun, that's why it's called "fun".

Having always enjoyed playing video games, I view them primarily as fun, however, I will say that I have learned a good deal from video games, ranging from new words, to varying types of elements to different types of classical weaponry. 90% of it could probably be classified as Trivia Knowledge, but it's still interesting, and useful to an extent.

Also, I'm pretty positive I range closer to 6 digits then 5. I've put over 4800 hours alone into FFXI(an MMORPG that used to be decent competition for WoW back in the day). Which is actually a good deal less then some of the friends I have on FFXI. One guy I know has 900 days play-time(21,600 hours)

Well, I put it this way. I can do what every other moron in my age group does and waste my life away watching MTV and other bullcrap while listening to talentless buffoons and making a fool out of myself, or play video games.

It's not wasted. There's little else I could do with my time anyway.

Gaming is a great way to relax and socialise, and I'd rather do that than most other things people do for fun.

I love videogames, but can't honestly say the hours I've invested in them were well-spent. But such is the nature of fun.

I have over 120 days worth of playtime on Star Wars Galaxies alone, not counting any of my other games (I had over 100 hours on my main Oblivion save).

I've spent much of the free time of my remembered childhood (meaning a bit over the past decade) playing video games and it's fun, so why regret it? I'm not going to stop anytime soon, either. I hope many more decades will be spent with a video game controller in one hand, a copy of GameInformer in the other, an Elder Scrolls shirt on, a game guide glued to my forehead, and anyone I may possibly know questioning why I'm sitting at home on a Saturday night instead of going out on a date.

you got to ask yourself what would you have done if you weren't gaming? i doubt you would be building soup kitchens, it would probably be watching tv. I play mostly at night so its not like i'm really wasting time

it aint a waste of time if you enjoy it. some say that i need to get out and hang with friends but productivity equals zero either way so id rather spend that time doing something i enjoy..... playin mah videah games :celebration:

I never let it get in the way of socializing, but it does often get in the way of school work. In the latter case, I would say that it was definitely time wasted. I mean, I used to love playing online FIFA matches all night on the weekdays, but it meant I didn't do my reading or studying.

Good grief that is a lot of Star Wars. :blink:

Anyway, as others have said, Video Games are entertainment. I dont consider the time spent playing a video game to be any more wasted than watching TV, going to the movies or reading a book. I do it to relax and unwind, so I dont see it as wasted time at all.

I've put a lot of my life into gaming the past 10 years. Some of it wasted, most of it not. Most of it I enjoyed.

Almost 13,000 hours in Guild Wars (that's 538 days, take that Star Wars guy!)
Right around 1,200 in LOTRO
At least 500 in FF X
Near 1,000 in Morrowind
500 or so in Oblivion

A number of other games around the 80-150 hour mark.

I don't regret any of it really.

What am I going to do with a more productive use of my time? Have three jobs, so that I can afford more games to play?

Oh, you have no idea. I first watched the movies when I was like, five I think. Maybe four. Ever since then I've literally been obsessed with the entire series, although there are quite a few books I haven't read (too much of a jedi focus imo). So I've spent 120 days worth of time playing Galaxies since '06, plus probably like 50-100 days playing other past Star Wars games, PLUS all the time I've seen the movies/read the books/thought about it etc. probably comes up to being the majority of my lifetime which involved something Star Wars related.

Other than the Elder Scrolls and Halo series, nothing else has ever pulled me in or influenced my life quite as much as Star Wars has.

/mindblown

And yet your name is MorrowindFan. :wink_smile:

I didn't actually get into Morrowind until around '05-'06 sadly...

When I think about it in the long-term, yes I see it as a waste of time where you could be doing other, more impactful things. Though, at the certain time, it is a boredom killer and a level of entertainment that brings us happiness, without it, us gamers would be miserably bored.

The lizard is right.



Also, I can just say I'm doing research for the job, getting acquainted with the current state of videogame lingo, and such. :shifty:

i've often felt guilty about the time i spend on computer games, and i've tried to quit a couple of times - none of my friends are gamers, they're all socialites, and my girlfriends always dissapprove, but recently i realised how many good memories i have of game worlds, and how easy it is to make myself content and mentally stimulated just by playing a game, and how utterly boring it is trying to watch tv for any length of time in somebody else's company, so i've come to realise that feeling guilty about it is senseless, i will never give up games - it's a young and growing form of entertainment, with potentially a long way to go before it's fully developed - and that's exciting.
i consider myself lucky to have it as an outlet, as a means of escape,
it's only a waste of time if you're not having fun.

Wow, I don't play video games half as long as you guys.
I put 22 hours in Red dead redemption and I thought that was a long time
I couldn't believe that my friend had spent 14 days on Call of duty: Modern Warfare 2

Probably the most I've ever put into a game was Fallout 3 spending nearly 100 hours :celebrate:

Really no matter what you do people will say "That is time better spent elsewhere" with some people being jerks. I enjoy playing games and probably have the Platinum achievement "Born with controller In hand" as 80 to 83% of my life was spent playing games. As said there are people that will say I could have spent my time better as in "Build me my crap you don't = anything if you don't assist/benefit ME". When it comes down to it NO ONE can tell you how to spend your free time it is yours and yours alone. Anyways that's how I feel about it and people will say i'm wrong, but they can kiss my shiny metal...well you know.

For me, it depends on the game. I have around 10 hours on Two Worlds, which is a waste of time considering I only bought the game for the achievements.

The amount of time I've spent playing videos games in total is probably half of my life. I've started when I was 2 and I still play a lot now. I'd i've played enough hours to reach somewhere between 8-12 years.